Musical Moments with Metricula

We are so pleased to have Metricula perform for us at this year’s Geek Gala. This will be her second appearance at the Gala, but the first year as our Special Musical Guest. Metricula was kind enough to answer a few questions for us recently – here’s her answers and a playlist of her performances for your enjoyment!

When did you first get in to music?

I started playing guitar in middle school and then got really involved in leading group singing at summer camps and youth group. In high school, I started getting really into Appalachian and UK folk music, which led me to finding people like Heather Dale and Marc Gunn on the old Mp3.com charts! Twenty years later, I’ve been able to meet both of them through the nerdy music community, so the fan girl in me is still “squee-ing” to death.

How did the character Metricula first get created?

So I adopted the name “Metricula” online around 2002 as my LiveJournal handle and eventually it became my go-to online identity. Five or six years ago I met Lady Gatita from Nerd-Vana at illogiCon (my home convention in Raleigh) and auditioned for one of their local shows. Most of the other performers were using stage names, so it made sense to bring my online id into meatspace! The character itself is really just a hyped-version of myself, except I can get away with saying the off-color things I’m usually just thinking. The clown-inspired makeup came from a robotic-doll character I used in a Nerd-Vana theme show called “Dr. Fantastical’s Time Traveling Carnival” where Metricula was a nanny-bot that adorably and filthily malfucntioned if you gave her alcohol. So I guess the short version is that my stage character is always a work in progress; I’m always incorporating new things.

How would you describe your show?

Imagine a summer campfire sing-a-long but all the songs are either super nerdy or would violate FCC broadcast decency regulations, depending on the time of day you find me! The best shows for me are the ones where the audience likes singing (or yelling!) about Doctor Who or DnD just as much as I do, so most of my songs are designed to be easy to teach and sing together.

What has been one of your favorite projects to work on?

My current “big” project has been setting up regular broadcasts on Twitch. It’s a service that started primarily for video game live streams, but there’s a large and vibrant creative community too–musicians, artists, knitters, even DIY cooking shows. Like, just the other day I watched a woman in Canada cross-stitch Pokemon for hours. So I’m learning a ton about sound production and getting out new material that I hope will help me start getting better home recordings of my music out this summer. The icing on the Twitch cake is that it’s an absolute BLAST to hang out with friends new and old and connecting with other musicians. I’ve already got some collaborations in the works!

When you’re not performing music, what else are you up to?

I’m always starting new projects, some of which I even finish! I’m on the committee for my home fan convention, illogiCon, a cohost on the All in the Reflexes podcast, and reading more news on Twitter than is good for my blood pressure. My husband is incredibly supportive of my creative projects, so I try not to resent that fact our cat loves him so much more than me.

One of the challenges we always have is trying to describe the Geek Gala to someone who’s never been before. Since you went last year, how would you describe it?

I went with a bunch of friends to a bar that only played music from the 80s and 90s–like, only the hits–and it was one of those nights where it was so fun and so perfect it felt like being in a movie montage about a perfect, feel-good night. And then two guys had a literal, one-on-one dance off right there in the middle of the dance floor. I’d say Geek Gala has a vibe like that but way nerdier and less sweaty! Last year, it was this big, feel good party with some of the most inclusive and welcoming people I’ve met. Like, I got there the night before all of my Nerd-Vana friends and was feeling a little lost and Joey, Matt, and Wanda at the reg table just adopted me right in and I felt so at home.

So this year’s Geek Gala pays homage to Godzilla movies – if you were to create a Godzilla movie today – what type of nemesis do you think he should fight against?

Joey moved to Charlotte in 2008 and loves it here! She started the Charlotte Geeks after returning from Dragon*Con and whining "But I don't want to wait 360 days to hang out with my people again!!" Self-dubbed the GiddyGeeker, her geekdoms are Doctor Who, Marvel, Boardgaming, British TV (MisFits, Orphan Black, Sherlock, The IT Crowd, etc) and she is slightly addicted to FUNKO pops. Check here out here or listen to her on the Guardians of the Geekery podcast.